Let’s take a look around at some of the highlights from the eighth days of Olympic action in Paris — outside the pool.
Simone Biles Soars to Gold on Vault for 10th Career Medal
Simone Biles won her third gold medal in three chances so far in Paris, this time on the vault with a score of 15.3 across her two attempts on Saturday.
The 27-year-old American nailed the hardest vault in the world, a 6.4-difficulty double backflip in pike position that has been dubbed the Biles II because she’s the first gymnast ever to do the move in competition, for a huge score of 15.7 on her first jump. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade (14.966) and fellow American Jade Carey (14.466) rounded out the podium behind Biles, who now owns seven Olympic gold medals and 10 total of any color.
Biles is now the third-most decorated female gymnast in Olympic history behind Soviet Union’s Larisa Latynina (18) and Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska (11), in terms of total medals. She also won Thursday’s all-around as well as Tuesday’s team competition, and will have two more medal opportunities on the balance beam and floor to potentially pass Caslavska.
Richardson Upset by Alfred; Fraser-Pryce Withdraws from Semis
Julien Alfred captured Saint Lucia’s first-ever Olympic medal in thrilling fashion on Saturday, winning the 100-meter dash in 10.72 to upset American favorite Sha’Carri Richardson (10.87), who could not overcome a slow start en route to the silver.
Alfred is a former University of Texas sprinter who ran away with NCAA titles in 2022 and 2023. The bronze medal went to 23-year-old American Melissa Jefferson (10.92).
The showdown only featured one Jamaican after Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce shockingly pulled out of the semifinals. Some speculated it might have had something to do with her initially being denied entry to warmups by event organizers along with Richardson, but others pointed to her a injury and the rain-soaked track as the likelier culprits for her absence.
Zheng Qinwen Claims Women’s Tennis Singles Title
After eliminating world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, Chinese 21-year-old Zheng Qinwen rode a wave of momentum to a straight-set victory over Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the women’s tennis singles final at Roland Garros.
It was a breakthrough victory for Zheng, ranked No. 7 in the world, whose deepest major tournament run came in January when she reached the Australian Open final. Her win helped China up its gold medal total to 16, two ahead of the United States (14) through the first eight days of Olympic action in Paris.
The men’s singles final is scheduled for Sunday morning, featuring a rematch of last month’s Wimbledon final between Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic. The U.S. duos of Austin Krajicek/Rajeev Ram and Taylor Fritz/Tommy Paul picked up silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s doubles tennis medal matches.
Ryan Crouser Pulls Off Historic Shot-Put Three-Peat
American shot-putter Ryan Crouser battled through a series of injuries this year to become the first person ever in his sport to complete an Olympic three-peat on Saturday. The 31-year-old tossed a season-best 22.90 meters in the final, short of his world record (23.56) and Olympic record (23.30) but still good for gold.
Fellow American Joe Kovacs clawed back from 4th place to take the silver medal for the third consecutive Olympics behind Crouser.
U.S. Men’s Basketball Clinches Top Seed Heading Into Medal Round
The four-time defending champion U.S. men’s basketball team cruised to a 104-83 win against Puerto Rico on Saturday to establish themselves as the top overall seed heading into the medal round on Tuesday.
The American men took down Nikola Jokic‘s Serbia squad (110-84) and up-and-coming South Sudan (103-86) in their other two Group C games. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry & Co. now set their sights on a matchup with Brazil in the quarterfinals at 3:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday.
Serbia advanced 2nd in Group C behind the U.S. after a 96-85 victory over South Sudan on Saturday, setting up a quarterfinal showdown with Australia. Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s Greek team also advanced and will take on Germany. The winner of Greece vs. Germany will meet in the semifinals against the winner of Canada vs. France.
Simone Biles is GOAT 👑
Not only for all those gold medals and records but most importantly, for staying put and supporting her teammates when she had twisties, which forced to her to withdraw from AA where she was a massive favorite, and continued to compete a few days later to win bronze on beam apparatus.
That shows you she is a champion through and through.
Biles being the first and only woman to land the yurchenko double pike to this day is nuts
How do you not mention Femke Bol? Talk about a whiff
Shacarri had slow starts in the semifinals and finals. Really did her in.
0.15 was too big a gap to make up in any situation